Of Tulips and Edelweiss
by SyllableFromSound
Summary: AusHun one-shot collection. Chapter 1: In the Event of My Death-"By now you've probably already realized it, but…if you are reading this, I am no longer with you."


**WHATISTHISIDON'TEVENASDFGHJKL-*brain malfunction***

**Okay...so prepare for your minds to turn into goo as you read the ridiculous sap before you. 0_e Literally, the file on my computer is labeled "HERP DERP SAP". I wrote the first part (the one in italics) a while ago, just because I couldn't get the idea out of my head. I was never going to post it originally, but a couple of my friends convinced me to. Then again, my friends are insane...**

**Anyway...this is indeed the first in a one-shot collection (but I promise that I'll try not to make them all as mushy and stupid as this crap XP). I won't update it regularly...I'll probably just write stories as they come to me and put them here. It's basically an idea dump. :P **

**Also in all these stories, Hungary's human name will be Erzsébet or Erzse, which is the Hungarian form of Elizabeth. I just find it more fitting for her than Elizaveta, so I'm sticking with it. XP**

**An****yway, please read and review! And don't be afraid to be harsh with me and pick this story apart for all it's worth...I love being criticized!**

**To the readers of my fic "TERRA", I swear that I'll stop wasting time on this crap and post the next chapter soon! ^^'**

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><p><em>Erzsébet,<em>

_Well, what can I say here, Liebe? I could write books filled with all the things I'd like to say to you if I had the time. I know that it's entirely cliché and that by now you've probably already realized it, but…if you are reading this, I am no longer with you. And as idiotic as it sounds, I feel the need to apologize—for what, I don't really know. Perhaps I feel guilty about leaving you behind._

…_Are the tears coming yet, Schatze? Are they beginning to prick at those gorgeous emerald eyes of yours, the ones that seem to hold every emotion known to man and then some? Maybe that's why I'm sorry: I know that I must have upset you a great deal, and that is something I cannot bear, neither in life nor death. But wipe them away or swallow them if you can—I still have much more to say._

_First, I just wanted to let you know that no matter where I am, I will miss you. If Paradise were really as incredible as people say it is, I would be able to take you there with me. God help me, I'll miss you so much. I'll miss you guiding me home whenever I get lost, and you listening to me play the piano as though it were the most magical think you'd ever heard. I'll miss your constant teasing and you ordering me to "put down the sewing, Grandma, and man up!" I'll miss seeing your frying pan put a dent in Prussia's skull, and your endless protection in battle. I'll miss the warmth that reaches ever nerve and fiber of my body when we touch. And I'll just miss you, Erzse, as you always are. I'll be honest—I've never met a girl who was more of a contradiction to herself. You're sweet one minute and on a violent rampage the next. You could be fighting like a man twice your size, or giggling with Feliks about those perverted comics you always read. What did Japan call you that one time?—"yandere", that was it. And to be perfectly honest, he was right. You're just so different…and I adore that._

_Ah, but I've got the better end of the deal, I suppose. If I ever yearn for you, I can see you any time I want. You do know that, don't you, darling? That I'll be watching over you and everything you do?_

_Of course, if you ever forget that or you ever feel alone, I recommend looking to the Alps or listening to one of my favorite piano melodies or take a stroll through the edelweiss in our garden. I'll be looking down from the mountaintops; drifting softly with the music; walking alongside you and watching the white, white petals fluttering like snow in the breeze. Yes, I will be there, and don't you ever doubt that…_

_But I'm getting too far ahead of myself—if you were here while I was writing this, you'd probably laugh and tell me to get to the point. _

_Now, I don't want to tell you how to live after me (I've tried controlling you before—it didn't work out very well, remember?), but there is something I beg of you, something that you must do for me. _

_Don't ever let them take you, understand? No matter what happens, I don't want you to surrender yourself. You may fall on hard times now that I'm gone. I worry about you, being a nation in the midst of such chaos and now being without my help. And then there are your own emotions, and God knows how hard it is for you to control those in the best of times. But still, I want you to fight…fight like the proud, stubborn, bold, fiery, wild soul you are. If you're caught, struggle. If they bind you, don't let your spirit be chained as well. No one was ever meant to be your master—not another country, and certainly not your own grief. As I mentioned before, this is a fact I know from experience._

_You're calling me down for dinner now, and I know how you get when I keep you waiting too long, so I'll try to finish up now. I want to remind you of just one more thing before I close: do you recall back when you worked for me, how you'd always clean the big windows on the east side of the house? Whenever you looked out there and saw a flock of birds flying in that direction—towards your home—you'd always stop whatever you were doing at that moment and watch them as they went, and then after they finally disappeared over the horizon, you'd keep staring into the distance with a look of the deepest longing I'd ever seen. Yes, I noticed, Erzse…don't lie and say you never did any such thing. _

_Do you want to know something, though? In my opinion, you had no reason to envy them. That is because I saw you as one of them. You're a bird who's been caged in the past, but still managed to sing. You've flown through the fiercest of storms, but you were always fiercer. But now all I wish for you is that you'll finally be able to perch in the sun. You, the only person that can inspire me to write a composition with just a single laugh. You, the only person I'd spend my money, my time, and my life on without a second thought. You, the one who did the impossible, who turned me into a child again, to whom I'm forever grateful. _

_When Italy was a boy (?) and we were bringing him up together, he'd say something to the two of us in that squeaky, cheerful voice of his: "Io ti amo." In your language, that would be "Szeretlek." But here, I think I'll just say that anywhere, no matter what, in life or death, with all my heart: ich liebe dich. _

_…__Für immer und ewig, _

_Roderich_

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><p>Her mouth twitched upward into a wavering, almost mournful grin as she folded the yellowed piece of parchment with slow, quivering fingers. It made no difference—she could still see the words of the letter clearly in her mind, the graceful script written by the steady and precise hand of a composer. They had a certain poetry to them, flowly like a river, one that now threatened to spill over in the form of her tears.<p>

The last phrase was the one that stuck out to her the most. "Fur immer und ewich"—she recalled enough German to know what that meant: "forever and always".

Forever. Permanently. Infinitely. It seemed unfathomable that a simple emotion could last that long…yet there it was scrawled out so confidently in the ebony ink.

According to the date in the top corner of the note, it had been written in 1914, a few months after the start of the Great War. She hadn't known it at the time, but now it seemed obvious to her that he been worried that the infamous conflict would bring about his own demise. So he had left this one letter behind for her, in case Fate chose to twist his worst fears and cause them to materialize into reality, in case he didn't have the chance to say what he wanted to.

It had been 97 years since then…92 since the divorce. And it was only now, in the 21st century, that she had managed to uncover the note while she had been exploring through Austria's bedroom in search of something that she thought she had left behind there. She couldn't even remember what it was that she had originally been looking for. All she knew was that she had opened up one of the drawers to his desk and seen the envelope, bearing only the instructions "To Be Opened in the Event of My Death", lying there untouched and oh so tempting. She could feel her curiosity take control of her hands as they tore the thing open—all the while in direct disobedience of the much wiser part of her mind—and found the piece of paper inside. And now all because of that, she had the urge to collapse to her knees and weep over "forever and always".

"Hungary!"

Said country turned and furiously swiped at her watering eyes as she heard Austria's voice echoing up the staircase, the sound of his footsteps close behind. She slid the letter into her pocket just as he stepped into the doorway.

"Did you find what you needed?"

"Y-yeah," she lied, feeling like a complete imbecile for not being able to keep her own voice steady…especially when she didn't even know what she was nervous about. This discovery changed nothing, after all. She had no need to feel any different simply because she had stumbled upon this message that she should not have seen anyway.

He cocked an eyebrow and took a step forward, noticing her shaky tone. "Is something the matter?"

She turned from his concerned gaze and stared rather vacantly at the carpet, as though struggling to comprehend what he had just said. Then slowly, she looked back up and beamed at him with a smile that was bright and genuine. "Never better."

Before he could react, she had already squeezed him in a quick but affectionate hug, then hurried down the steps and out the door of the mansion.

He could only stand frozen to the spot in surprise for a minute before he simply let out his breath in a quiet sigh, a small grin of his own beginning to play at his features.

_Five hundred and eighty-five years, and I still don't understand that girl._


End file.
